Gary Stern of the Journal News reported that in the wake of Pope Benedict\u2019s visit to the United States, some seminaries have reported an unanticipated increase of inquiries to join the priesthood. The Pope\u2019s visit was a very good thing for American Catholicism, and an important moment of reflection for at least one American Catholic.<\/p>\n
I am contemplating confession.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been more than five years since I made one and in that half decade, I\u2019ve racked up a host of sins. Not least of which includes my ongoing cynicism about the sacrament.<\/p>\n
My idea of a good time does not generally include a jaunt into the dimly lit box of a confessional, sitting down with the strange man inside, and telling him all of my deepest, darkest, most discomforting secrets. My failings are between me and God, I have told myself for these years. I don\u2019t need to bring anyone else into it. Add another failing to list, and bless me father, for I was wrong.<\/p>\n
Pope Benedict\u2019s homily at Washington Nationals Stadium was made up of the kind of stuff that make Catholics proud. He condemned a culture of violence, materialism and hostility to family life \u2013an amalgamation of moral issues that transcend political partisanship and form the \u2018seamless garment\u2019 on life ethics. And just as I found myself nodding in agreement, the Pope made one more plea: that American Catholics return to the sacrament of Penance. For a moment, it seemed he was talking right to me.<\/p>\n
Suddenly I thought \u2018maybe he\u2019s right,\u2019 and something inside me cracked. While I\u2019ve always believed that I have much to learn from the wisdom of the ages, I could not surrender on the point of confession. The Lord may be slow to anger, but I am rich in obstinacy. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There’s more, so check it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When was the last time you went to confession? This author, a college co-ed, has a confession of her own to make: it’s been a while: Gary Stern of the Journal News reported that in the wake of Pope Benedict\u2019s visit to the United States, some seminaries have reported an unanticipated increase of inquiries to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sacraments"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}